For an optimal navigation, the RFI website requires JavaScript to be enabled in your browser.
To take full advantage of multimedia content, you must have the Flash plugin installed in your browser.
To connect, you need to enable cookies in your browser settings.
For an optimal navigation, the RFI site is compatible with the following browsers: Internet Explorer 8 and above, Firefox 10 and +, Safari 3+, Chrome 17 and + etc.

African press review 2 March 2018

Nigeria forces in blame game as lawmakers probe failures of Dapchi girls' kidnapping.

We begin in Nigeria, where the House of Representatives has moved a motion calling for a full-scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the 110 Dapchi school girls in Kobe State.

Vanguard reports that the move backed by the opposition People's Democratic Party comes amid conflicting reports and disagreement among government officials and agencies about who should take responsibility for the children's abduction and a clamour for heads to roll over the negligence.

Meanwhile, the Tribune expresses deep concern by the scale of the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the north east of the country.

The paper relays findings by the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmad that up to 300,000 Nigerians have sought refuge in Cameroun, Chad and Niger.

According to the paper, Ahmad released the figures at the special town hall meeting for military and security agencies in Maiduguri adding that up to 8.5 million persons were now known to have been displaced by Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria.

Zainab reportedly announced that the government had distributed 30,000 tonnes of grains under the Emergency Food Intervention Program.

The Tribune reports that while she commended the military for so-called successes recorded in the counter-insurgency operation in the region, she voiced support for the engagement of police to facilitate restoration of civil authorities.

Meanwhile , in Kenya, the Standard investigates a shocking incident at one of the country's top hospitals. News that Kenyatta National Hospital has apologized for performing a brain surgery on the wrong patient.

According to the newspaper, the patient only required nursing and medication to treat a swelling on the head, but was instead taken to theatre for a brain surgery after a confusion on their identification tags.

The Standard says that the Nairobi-based hospital issued a statement on Thursday claiming that it had suspended the admission rights of a neurosurgery registrar after performing the surgery. The hospital’s management also fired the ward nurse, the theatre receiving nurse and the anesthesist for their role in the mishap.

In South Africa, Times takes up a major bitcoin scam which has hit the country, after more than 27,000 people reported they had been duped after transferring crypto currency valued at over 40 million euros into an online wallet address.

The paper says a spokesman for the Hawks investigating agency had confirmed the scam, saying they were probing a company called BTC Global and its "master trader" who reportedly disappeared two weeks ago.

Times Live says his administration team wrote on Facebook two weeks ago that they could not locate him.

Chamisa is MDC-T's new leader

Finally, in Zimbabwe the crisis rocking late Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party continues to hit the front pages of the paper as chieftains engage in an ugly fight to succeed him. The Herald reports that the party’s national council elevated co-vice-president Nelson Chamisa to become the movement’s leader on Monday.

According to the paper, the MDC-T’s top decision-making body gave a seven-day ultimatum to his counterpart Thokozani Khupe to engage or face dismissal.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle says the decision reached by the National Council of the MDC-T means that advocate Nelson Chamisa will be the presidential candidate of the opposition coalition grouping which comprises seven political parties.